Life's Journey

PAIN. Life is full of it.
DISTRESS. DOUBT. ANGER. HURT.
These are feelings most of us, that are members of the human race, have had to come to terms with at some point in our lives. If you haven't yet. You will. It's not a matter of if.....just a matter of when.
We all struggle....but with Christ we can have hope.
Hope... when things otherwise would seem hopeless.
There have been times in my own life when I've struggled to overcome hopelessness. Even now in my life with job loss, the housing market nose diving when we are trying to sell, and a car accident that has left me without a vehicle---I wonder what is God's plan in all of this for me? I have wondered if God has forgotten me? I've asked lots of "why" questions (why me? why now? why this?) ...but God has chosen to be silent. It is sometimes in that silence that I can finally hear what He is saying. When so much of my "comfort" is gone I have no choice but to turn to God...which is what I should have done in the first place.
I'm currently reading a book by David Jeremiah called A Bend In The Road. In the book Mr. Jeremiah discusses exactly what it is I am feeling. I am not abnormal. I'm not crazy. I'm only human.
David through the Psalms lets us know that he had times such as these also.
In Psalm 139 David says, "Where shall I go from thy spirit? Where shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in Hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost pasts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
That is comforting. I cannot be in a situation that God does not know about or intimately care about.

Dr. Jeremiah quotes Alan Redpath in his book saying, "There is nothing, no circumstance, no trouble, no testing that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has come past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose."
I've mulled that quote over in my mind. God understands the big picture, while I, quite frankly know very little. I do not pretend to understand all the reasons for why things happen the way they do. I just know that God knows. I dare say He is probably trying to teach me something.....something that I've been to stubborn or preoccupied to pay attention to without some divine intervention.